Aircraft can generate and store a vast amount of information during a flight that is useful for analysis after the flight. For example, during a flight, information is recorded in a flight data recorder, a cockpit voice recorder, a quick access recorder, as well as other computers, data loggers, sensing components, security video recorders, and any other suitable data recording devices. When the aircraft reaches the airport terminal or gate, some or all of this information is uploaded from the aircraft to a network data storage system for further analysis. Furthermore, increasing amounts of information are transferred to an aircraft when it is on the ground. For example, pre-flight data, maintenance data, device software or firmware updates, entertainment media, and any other suitable information that is downloaded to an aircraft on the ground.
Conventionally, a wired data line can be connected to the aircraft to perform these data transfers. However, this has many disadvantages, such as the time, manpower, and hardware needed to establish a physical data connection to the aircraft, as well as the additional associated maintenance of the equipment, wires, and data ports.
To alleviate some of these disadvantages, wireless communications have been employed to perform these data transfers using Wi-Fi (e.g., 802.11 based communications) or cellular communications. These same wireless communications mediums are also concurrently being employed by many passengers, businesses, and other aircraft in the airport. With the significant quantity of people (e.g. mobile devices), systems, and aircraft concurrently employing these wireless communications mediums, there can be considerable network congestion which degrades the data transfer bandwidths on the wireless communications mediums. Given the limited time that aircraft are on the ground before turning around for a next flight, the slow data transfer bandwidths oftentimes do not allow for transferring all of the data desired to be transferred between the aircraft and the network data storage system.
The above-described deficiencies of aircraft data transfer operations are merely intended to provide an overview of some of the problems of current technology, and are not intended to be exhaustive. Other problems with the state of the art, and corresponding benefits of some of the various non-limiting embodiments described herein, may become further apparent upon review of the following detailed description.